Middle East & Africa

Following a recent outbreak in a school in Guinobatan, Albay, the Department of Health issued reminders to the public on how to avoid sore eyes, a report on GMA’s “24 Oras” said Tuesday. Sore eyes—more accurately, conjunctivitis or pinkeye—is described by the DOH as a redness and inflammation of the membranes (conjunctiva) covering the whites of the eyes and the ...

DFA: 4 Filipino nurses in Riyadh infected with MERS-CoV The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that four Filipino nurses in Riyadh have been infected with the MERS-Corona Virus. The patients are a 55-year-old male nurse, and three female nurses aged 29, 32, and 50. The foreign ministry said the nurses acquired the virus while treating MERS-CoV patients from the ...

Miriam blasts ‘thieves’ in Bureau of Customs MANILA – Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago on Monday said embattled Bureau of Customs (BOC) chief Alberto Lina should explain what his office has done against thieves in the agency who ransack shipments. Santiago has filed Senate Resolution No. 1534 seeking an investigation on the BOC’s plan to thoroughly inspect and impose taxes on ...

Customs defends tax on balikbayan boxes MANILA – Customs chief Alberto Lina defended Monday the agency’s plan to open balikbayan boxes, saying the bureau is mandated to prevent the entry of contraband items as well as assess the value of items that need to be taxed. Lina said that under the law, the bureau can inspect all balikbayan boxes entering ...

PNoy won’t stop opening of balikbayan boxes But vows ‘safeguards’ to prevent abuse by Customs CEBU CITY – President Aquino is meeting with Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and Bureau of Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina in Malacañang Monday afternoon to “review” and to be briefed about the Customs’ move to step up its inspection of balikbayan boxes. Aquino did not ...

Stranded commuters hike up a mountain after a portion of Kennon Road was damaged by a landslide caused by Typhoon Ineng in Baguio. Photo by Harley Palangchao, Reuters MANILA — (UPDATED) A weakened Typhoon Goni (local name: Ineng) was headed towards Japan on Sunday, after battering Northern Luzon leaving at least 10 dead, and causing thousands of people to be ...

6 Powerful Tips to shift into a Marketing Mindset MANILA – How many times have we sat down late hours in the office, drained and tired after a marketing strategy we worked on didn’t do well as planned? Low sales, slow return of investment, bad conversions–these are very haunting metrics. Others see marketing as a “spray and pray” game, others ...

BOC chief tells OFWs: I have to implement the law MANILA, Philippines – Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Bert Lina insists that he is merely following the law by enforcing stricter inspections of the “balikbayan boxes” that are brought into the country. In an interview with DZMM, Lina said it is part of his job to protect the country from ...

Customs implements random checks on balikbayan boxes Bureau of Customs already started the random checking of Balikbayan boxes as part of their security inspections. This move enraged a lot of OFW’s worldwide. Source: Abs-cbnnews.com

DOLE creates committee on OFW deployment MANILA, Philippines – Anticipating the full integration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), the labor department has set up a special committee to coordinate policies on the deployment of more Filipino workers abroad. Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has ordered the re-establishment of the Committee on International Trade Agreement of the Department of ...